"Conor McGregor will take three more fights before quitting."

Conor McGregor will fight three more times before retiring from MMA - according to journalist Gareth A. Davies.

Gareth spoke to Ger and Eoin on OTB AM to discuss McGregor's potential return to the octagon after an eighteen month absence, as he was photographed dining with Vladimir Putin at the Wrorld . In the meantime, Conor has been in scrapes inside and outside the ring - but Gareth remains convinced that he will be in familiar surroundings soon enough.

"Two things: the fact that Vladimir Putin invited them both to be in the final at that stadium is a potential precursor to an event happening there. Wouldn't it be amazing if they both fought each other there, in an open-air stadium, next year?"

Gareth was in attendance at Bellator's opening event in Rome last weekend, where he spoke to John Kavanagh about McGregor's prospects of returning to the Octagon. Kavanagh said that the public relations nightmares that McGregor has suffered in recent months should not form the total of what he is about, and that he is keeping himself in excellent shape.

"John Kavanagh was [at Bellator's opening event] with Will Fleury. John was saying to me that it might look like Conor is big into his bling, showing his cars, getting his cars deported and [his court case in New York].

"John said to me that [Conor]'s in SBG every single day that he's in Dublin. He is training very hard and he hasn't given up the ghost. He has got to come back. The way he spends money - that money is going to run out at some point. And the way that Tony McGregor is putting fuel in that speedboat all over Ireland - they are going to need more money.

"He has got to come back. He has got to fight again. I think we'll see at least three more fights before he retires."

All that and more on this morning's OTB AM live in association with Screwfix.ie, and as usual you can get your comments and thoughts into us on Facebook by following Off The Ball.

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